May 11
...serving up your daily dish.
No, we're not going to reveal the plot of the movie Bellclair Times, but it seems Baristaville's Bellclair, touted as luxury living in Montclair and "situated in a SOHO style neighborhood," may have its own unfortunate secret just waiting to come to light.
A disgruntled resident, who felt compelled to tattle on what he calls his "high class slum lords" wrote us a scathing lament about deplorable conditions in the luxury rentals including uninsulated piping in walls that can make living in his Bellclair apartment akin to sleeping next to "Niagara Falls." Disgruntled also mentions that running the dishwasher after 9 p.m. is not allowed, since that would " be like a tsunami."
Bell Parkway is as busy as any main street in Montclair, and you can so much as eavesdrop on people outside the apartments, WITH THE WINDOWS CLOSED! (should I mention the herd of elephants living above?)
Tsunamis, waterfalls, elephants -- sounds perfectly exotic. Apparently this isn't the first complaint related to Sterling Properties, managers of the Bellclair. We tried to contact folks at Sterling, but were directed to the super, who was also not available. To be fair, are there other disgruntled Bellclair residents? Or is that desirable location directly across from Whole Foods worth every penny.
I miss the old bowling alley on this site. I never actually went inside, but I liked driving by. If only it had been declared an historic landmark, these poor slum dwellers wouldn't be in this mess.
Posted by: walleroo | May 11, 2005 2:27:43 PM
I've heard good things about Bellclair...
I can eavesdrdop on people who are outside my apartment with the windows closed too - and i'm on the 3rd floor. It's apartment living!
Posted by: butchcjg2 | May 11, 2005 2:27:54 PM
tomorrow's slums, today.
How do you abbreviate 'Dumpster View' for a Real Estate advert?
Posted by: Kevin Lee Allen | May 11, 2005 2:40:52 PM
I guess to you anything that is a rental is "tomorrow's slums".
Posted by: butchcjg2 | May 11, 2005 2:42:42 PM
Such snobbery! I grew up in such apartments and we did okay hearing the water rushing by (and a few other things to boot) . Not everyone can afford $800K houses!
Where is the commitment to "diversity" so many liberals are so self-congratulatory about?
Posted by: Right of Center | May 11, 2005 2:45:21 PM
Diversity? What are you talking about? These are luxury slums.
Posted by: walleroo | May 11, 2005 3:04:52 PM
ROC - why must you turn everything into an insult against liberals, etc? Or, some romanticism about your youth and how it was so superior to the today?
There are plenty of snobby people in Montclair - or in Texas - or in Kansas. Snobbery isn't trademarked by liberals (nor even the rich!) No matter where you are or what political party you belong to, there are always going to be people purchasing high-end goods (cars/apartments/etc) and some will complain about the quality. I suppose if I paid for a luxury apartment, I'd expect luxury quality.
There are plenty of us liberals in Montclair who aren't snobs, plenty of us who truly value diversity, plenty of us who aren't rich, etc. I can only think of a handful of white folks in my entire building and there are lots of section 8 tenants/families - yet I think we have one of the best places to rent in all of Montclair.
Posted by: butchcjg2 | May 11, 2005 3:06:54 PM
[Diversity? What are you talking about? These are luxury slums.]
Our building has recently been advertised in the Montclair Times as a luxury building, yet it has section 8 families and is very racially diverse. (And has income caps). But, it's a very nice building, with nice spacious apartments, and decent amenities. I think it's an unfortunate reality that luxury generally mean high-end price and lack of diversity.
Posted by: butchcjg2 | May 11, 2005 3:11:24 PM
Butch, you are truly a fisherman's fish. Never met a worm you didn't like. I don't know what we'd do without you.
Posted by: walleroo | May 11, 2005 3:12:54 PM
But, but... you just said you live in a "luxury" building and it is diverse. So which is it?
Posted by: walleroo | May 11, 2005 3:14:10 PM
Not just the Fiserman's fish. She supposes to stand-in and speak for all liberals - takes any slight on liberalism as a personal affront.
Actually my comment was not directed at her at all!
As to my youth. Nothing romantic about it at all!
Posted by: Right of Center | May 11, 2005 3:29:20 PM
If the building Butch is referring to is the one on Pine St. near the train station, it must have recently been renovated. I looked at apartments in that building a few years ago and was not impressed.
The apartments are large by Montclair and NYC standards, but they are your typical New Jersey garden apartments. The building was very noisy, and I thought it smelled funny.
Posted by: sharky | May 11, 2005 3:36:46 PM
[But, but... you just said you live in a "luxury" building and it is diverse. So which is it?]
I think my building is proof that you can live in a very diverse building - both racially and economically- and still live in relative luxury. (They've been advertising it as luxury in the paper, though I'm sure it woudlnt quite meet the standards of some given that there are poor people living here and given that there's no fitness room or parking garage!) Unfortunately, I don't think that happens very often. People assume that section 8 renters deserve to live in the slums and people assume that luxury must cost an arm load. And, unfortunately, lots of people dont truly want to live amongst lower-income folks.
Read this great article about affordable housing units and some of the resistance to building them up to middle class standards (even if it costs no more):
http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/134/beauty.html
[She supposes to stand-in and speak for all liberals - takes any slight on liberalism as a personal affront.]
No, I'm not standing in and speaking for all liberals - but you make your remarks as if it fits all liberals - and that isn't true at all. It's like you sit and try to find the tiniest amount of hypocrisy (which exists in all people regardless of political affiliation) and then bash Montclair because of it.
Posted by: butchcjg2 | May 11, 2005 3:43:36 PM
the term 'slum' has as much to do with construction methods (in the case of the Bellclair) as it might with the smell of urine and sour milk in the hallways of Butch's building.
Posted by: Kevin Lee Allen | May 11, 2005 3:45:37 PM
[the term 'slum' has as much to do with construction methods (in the case of the Bellclair) as it might with the smell of urine and sour milk in the hallways of Butch's building.]
more lovely, brilliant and untrue thoughts from the head of kevin lee allen - humanitarian of the year! (and i see you brought your lovely wife out to play!) i SO is not beneath you two to climb out from under your rock and insult a person's home!
my building is very nice, thank you! no urine, no sour milk! having looked in lots of other montclair apartments just recently for a friend, I can tell you ours is one of the nicest.
Posted by: butchcjg2 | May 11, 2005 3:52:02 PM
I did not insult your home in my previous post. I just stated my opinion of the building.
I'm sure the building is very nice for you.
Posted by: sharky | May 11, 2005 3:57:29 PM
wow. We can call it my one line treatise on liberalism, eh?
Anyway, It is no small amount of hypocrisy. It is a great big heaping spoonful!
"We stand for diversity" ("as long as it happens someplace else")
please note: the above post was not directed any any one poster implied or imagined, but rather, at the (surely) myriad "Progressives" out there in "reader land" who are not leaping to the defense of "diversity". Any resemblance to your own political identity or ideology is purely accidental.
Posted by: Right of Center | May 11, 2005 3:58:13 PM
That's the kind of political debate I like. One in which arguments are directed ipso facto only at those people who aren't participating in the debate. Very clever, ROC. Very clever.
Posted by: walleroo | May 11, 2005 4:03:26 PM
"I'm sure the building is very nice for you [you miserable pudknocker!]"
Posted by: walleroo | May 11, 2005 4:06:23 PM
[please note: the above post was not directed any any one poster implied or imagined, but rather, at the (surely) myriad "Progressives" out there in "reader land" who are not leaping to the defense of "diversity". Any resemblance to your own political identity or ideology is purely accidental]
Hmm, well I guess if thems the rules, then we can just assume all the "conservatives" out there also not leaping to the defense of diversity must be klan members. Why Doug Forrester's commercials dont even bother to have a single person of color in them! Obviously, according to ROC, since he's not here on Barista defending diversity then he's in the KKK.
Posted by: butchcjg2 | May 11, 2005 4:13:14 PM
and yet walleroo, here in the Bluest town of the Bluest State(one of, anyway), still no one is defending this abode on the basis of diversity!
Posted by: Right of Center | May 11, 2005 4:13:54 PM
Ah yes, my lord and lady, those dwellings are just fine for the lower classes. They don't have your delicate aristocratic nostrils.
Posted by: latebloomer | May 11, 2005 4:14:44 PM
(thank goodness everything is getting back to normal....I was worried there for a bit)
Posted by: Right of Center | May 11, 2005 4:17:11 PM
[and yet walleroo, here in the Bluest town of the Bluest State(one of, anyway), still no one is defending this abode on the basis of diversity!]
well, ROC, if you hadn't noticed, there are only like 5 people in all of baristaville even posting today!
And, like I said, there will ALWAYS be luxury items that exist, be it cars/houses/clothes, etc. George Bush is livin' in a luxury house right now and flies on a luxury yet - obviously he isnt liberal.
You're also assuming that there isn't diversity in Bellclair, which you dont know is true. I know for certain that there are queer people there, and my guess is that not everyone is white. I'm sure it's lacking in true economic diversity, but you could also guess that the people in the Bellclair probably aren't the richest folks in Montclair or they might be living on N. Mountain.
Posted by: butchcjg2 | May 11, 2005 4:18:14 PM
[Ah yes, my lord and lady, those dwellings are just fine for the lower classes. They don't have your delicate aristocratic nostrils]
Some times when we're real good, they lets us come up to their end of town and window shop - as long as we don't touch things or break somethin' they know we can't pay for! then we rush back home to pee on the carpet and spill our sour milk.
Posted by: butchcjg2 | May 11, 2005 4:19:51 PM
